Southern States - Karnataka   

KPRS plans Statewide agitation on May 5

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA MAY 2. The Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) will organise a State-level agitation on May 5 to protest against the State Government's move to privatise transmission and distribution of electricity.

Disclosing this to presspersons here today, the President of the sangha, Maruti Manpade, said despite appeals by farmers' organisations, the Government was going ahead with its move to privatise the power sector in the name of introducing reforms.

Mr. Manpade said the sector was being opened for private parties at the behest of the World Bank, which had suggested reforms in the form of privatisation and withdrawal of subsidies as a condition for providing loans for restructuring the sector.

He said the Government was treating people of rural areas as "second class citizens" in the distribution of power. They were subjected to 12-hour load shedding, and irrigation pumpset owners were being given power at night only for four hours. There were 16 lakh irrigation pumpset owners in the State who had brought more than 35 lakh acres of land under the irrigation network. Due to the power crisis, they were not in a position to irrigate their land, and this might affect agriculture production this year.

Mr. Manpade said the Government should ensure at least eight-hour power supply to irrigation pumpsets. The World Bank, which had suggested withdrawal of subsidies given to the agriculture sector, had forgotten the subsidies extended to the sector in Japan, Pakistan, Colombia, and some European countries. While 72 per cent subsidy was provided to farmers in Japan, 61 per cent was given to the sector in European countries. In India, the subsidy to the sector had come down to three per cent.

He said due to the faulty policies of the Government, the power sector was facing a crisis. Instead of purchasing power at lower rates from States that had surplus and the Central Grid, the State was paying more to private companies such as Tannerbhavi, Tata, and others for electricity. The Government was doing little to harness power from hydel projects, which was the cheapest. While neighbouring States were offering power at Rs. 1.96 per unit and the Central Grid at Rs. 2.42 per unit, the private companies were selling it at Rs. 4.19 per unit, causing a huge loss to the KPTCL.

He said the agitation would be held in Gulbarga and Bidar districts on May 6.

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